Bering Island

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Bering Island

(bēr`ĭng, bâr`–), Rus. Beringa, largest of the Komandorski IslandsKomandorski Islands
or Commander Islands,
Rus. Komandorskiye Ostrova, group of treeless islands, off E Kamchatka Peninsula, E Russian Far East, in SW Bering Sea. They consist of Bering Island, Medny Island, and two islets.
..... Click the link for more information. , c.55 mi (90 km) long and up to c.15 mi (20 km) wide, off Kamchatka peninsula, E Russian Far East, in the Bering Sea. It is low and treeless and is subject to severe windstorms. Nikolskoye is the chief town. Vitus BeringBering, Vitus Jonassen
, 1681–1741, Danish explorer in Russian employ. In 1725 he was selected by Peter I to explore far NE Siberia. Having finally moved men and supplies across Siberia, Bering in 1728 sailed N through Bering Strait but sighted no land and did not
..... Click the link for more information. , sailing in the St. Peter, was shipwrecked and died there.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Bering Island

a western island of the Komandorskie Islands group in the Bering Sea (Kamchatka Oblast, RSFSR). Its area is 1,660 sq km. The southeastern part of Bering Island is mountainous (the highest point is 751 m) and is composed of tufaceous deposits from the Paleogene and Neogene and effusions of Anthropogenic formations. The climate is maritime and subarctic. Precipitation is about 500 mm a year. The island is covered with tundra vegetation, and in the valleys there are meadows, with Erman’s and Middendorfs birch. The shore is a breeding ground for northern fur seals and Steller’s sea lions; sea otters are also found there. The population is Russian and Aleutian. There is a maritime fur combine. The island is named after V. Bering.

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References in periodicals archive ?

Russia earthquake: Tsunami threat after huge 7.4-magnitude tremor near Bering Island

Japan fears earthquake and tsunami after MASSIVE deep-sea fishes caught alive; Japan believes a natural disaster is brewing as it regards oarfish as symbols of doom

The Bering Island foxes are considered a subspecies (Vulpes lagopus beringensis).

ISLAND OF THE BLUE FOXES: DISASTER AND TRIUMPH ON THE WORLD'S GREATEST SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION

These observations were made by Georg Wilhelm Steller, a naturalist  who discovered the  species in 1741 on Vitus Bering's   Great Northern Expedition when the crew became shipwrecked on Bering Island. The creature was named after him.

Extinct Sea Cow Fossil Found In Russia

As per the Geophysical Survey of the Russian Academy of Sciences (GS RAS), a tsunami warning was issued on Bering Island, located in 290 kilometers from the epicenter.

Earthquake of magnitude 7.7 jolts Russia's Commander Islands

on Tuesday (2334 GMT on Monday) some 125 miles (200 km) from the city of Nikolskoye on Bering island off the Kamchatka Peninsula.

Powerful earthquakes hit Kamchatka and Peru

The researchers conducted the first extensive community-based monitoring for harmful algal blooms and PSP in waters around the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands region in Alaska, and Bering Island in Russia.

Alaska Forum on the Environment

Scientists and students from the Russian-American Far East Russia Orca Project (Ferop) spotted the whale, which they have nicknamed Iceberg, twice during research projects off the coast of Bering Island in August 2010.

Scientists see first ever adult white orca whale

This expedition ended in disaster with the wreck of Bering's flagship off what today is known as Bering Island, a mountainous outcrop east of Kamchatka, where he died and is buried.

Until Death Us Do Part: The Letters and Travels of Anna and Vitus Bering

Steller sea lions were numerous on Bering Island when discovered by George Steller in 1742, but they ceased breeding there and almost disappeared from the Commander Islands during the mid to late 19th century (Steller, 1751; Stejneger, 1898; Grebnitsky, 1902).

Distribution and abundance of Steller sea lions, Eumetopias jubatus, on the Asian Coast, 1720's-2005

The biggest highlight was stopping at Bering Island and visiting the grave of the Danish navigator and explorer Vitus Bering.

In conversation

I shot my final example (left) only moments after coming ashore at Bering Island, on Russia's far eastern frontier.

Shooting a subject over and over? Take a different approach each time. (Photocritique)

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